Saturday, August 25. 2007

Wednesday, August 15. 2007

The Drummer had its World Premiere at the prestigious 60th Locarno International Film Festival 9th August, 2007. Usually warm, Locarno was blasted by a storm the day before our premiere. It rained until 8pm. Our screening started at 9:30pm at the Piazza Grande which holds roughly eight thousand people. Despite the threat of rain, the audience showed up to almost full capacity. The screen is the largest outdoor screen in Europe and one of the biggest in the world.

Myself, Jaycee Chan, Rosa Li (producer) and Thanassis Karathanos (producer) went onstage to present the film to the audience.

The reaction was amazing. Jaycee was extremely interested in watching the film because it was his first viewing also. He said, "What an extraordinary experience to hear eight thousand people laugh during the funny moments. It's like a natural reverb effect."

For me, it was the most spectacular way to present my film. The huge audience paid full attention to the giant screen. It is a director's dream come true.

Jaycee meeting composer Andre Matthias for the first time

Rosa Li getting a taste of the view in the Piazza Grande

The projector is the height of two people and the size of a small apartment in Hong Kong